Denzel Washington

Thanks to "Flight" and "Safe House," Denzel Washington was the biggest star of 2012, according to the Quigley Poll. Anne Hathaway ranked second, based on her drawing ability in "Les Miserables" and "The Dark Knight Rises. " Rounding out the Top 10 were Hugh Jackman, Mark Wahlberg, Johnny Depp, Daniel Craig, "Lincoln" star Daniel Day-Lewis, Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert Downey, Jr. The Quigley Poll has surveyed theater owners and film buyers each year since 1932. It is the first time that Oscar-winner Washington has topped the poll.

Hosting the Tony Awards on Sunday night, Hugh Jackman cracked the Broadway season had something for everyone, from cross dressers to drag queens. His words proved prophetic as "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" - about a rock singer who had a botched sex-change operation - took three top awards. The show was honored as best musical revival, while stars Neil Patrick Harris and Lena Hall took acting prizes. The show also won for lighting design. Harris - a frequent Tony host who plays the title role in "Hedwig" - was composed in his acceptance, thanking his fiance and promising his children he would be able to read them books and tuck them in soon.

When Oscar winner Denzel Washington cast his movie, The Great Debaters, he knew he needed more than actors. He needed to know that he had people who can project their voices, put passion into public speeches. "So, first day of rehearsal, he stuck us in this huge hall and made us shout out our points of view at the top of our lungs," remembers Jurnee Smollett, who plays Samantha, the lone female member of Wiley College's 1935 debate team. "He said, 'Forget about acting and just do your speech as if you can't be too big,' " marvels Nate Parker, who plays Henry Lowe, a passionate firebrand on that all-black college's team.

Marc Anthony has enough A-list connections to make the celebrity buzz-list, even without his formidable music catalog: The guy was married to J.Lo, for Pete's sake. He played a TV detective in TNT's medical drama "HawthoRNe" and made a few forays into feature films, including a turn alongside Denzel Washington in the 2004 drama "Man on Fire. " Fortunately the singer hasn't allowed his busy schedule to distract him from his most important role, as the best-selling salsa act of all time.

Denzel Washington has moved one step closer to the lead role in a film adaptation of the period mystery novel Devil in a Blue Dress.Carl Franklin, who is adapting the Walter Mosley novel, would also direct the TriStar Pictures release.While no deal has yet been signed with the Oscar-winning actor, Washington called executives at TriStar after reading Franklin's first draft to say he loved the script and is hoping Devil will be his next movie after The Pelican Brief, which he is shooting for Warner Bros.

The mighty fists of Rubin ``Hurricane'' Carter are the boxer's most flamboyant fighting tools. But it's his personal style - the way he carries himself - that turns out to be his most potent weapon. In The Hurricane, the fact-inspired film about Carter, Denzel Washington plays the now-famous boxer in a way that takes us on an expedition into the heart of this powerful - and powerfully wronged - human being. We see Carter in the '60s, working his way up the chain in his quest to become the middleweight boxing champ.

Paramount is bolstering its 2012 year-end holiday schedule by moving Seth Rogen - Barbra Streisand road-trip comedy "The Guilt Trip" to Christmas Day and putting Robert Zemeckis drama "Flight," starring Denzel Washington , in its previous Nov. 2 slot. "Flight" has been on the fast-track at Par ever since the studio came onboard last fall. Pic, about an airline pilot (Washington) who must deal with an investigation after saving a plane from crashing, marks Zemeckis' first foray into live action since 2000's "Cast Away.

Robert Zemeckis ' "Flight" will close the 50th edition of the New York Film Festival in a special gala screening that reps the world premiere of the Denzel Washington topliner. It'll be the first time for a Zemeckis film at the fest, which is known for its small, rigorously curated slate of about 25 films. Storyline of "Flight" centers on a pilot, played by Washington, whose heroic handling of a mid-air disaster is called into question when legal and ethical questions arise regarding the incident.

Norton Herrick has come onboard "2 Guns" as a producer along with his Herrick Entertainment banner. Currently filming in New Orleans, pic stars Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg and is based on the graphic novels by Steven Grant and published by Boom Studios. "Contraband" director Baltasar Kormakur is helming; Randall Emmett, George Furla, Jeffrey Stott, Ross Richie and Andrew Cosby produce. Bill Paxton , Edward James Olmos and James Marsden play supporting roles.

***** Out of Time (MGM; 105 minutes; rated PG-13 for sexual content, violence and some language; priced for rental, $27.98 for DVD): Out of Time is a nuanced, ultimately satisfying thriller that reteams Denzel Washington with his Devil in a Blue Dress director, Carl Franklin. Set in small-town South Florida, the film seems to focus on Matt Lee Whitlock, the chief of police played by Washington. Matt is a good, decent man who is feeling a little vulnerable these days. His wife, a cop named Alex (Eva Mendes)

Thanks to "Flight" and "Safe House," Denzel Washington was the biggest star of 2012, according to the Quigley Poll. Anne Hathaway ranked second, based on her drawing ability in "Les Miserables" and "The Dark Knight Rises. " Rounding out the Top 10 were Hugh Jackman, Mark Wahlberg, Johnny Depp, Daniel Craig, "Lincoln" star Daniel Day-Lewis, Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert Downey, Jr. The Quigley Poll has surveyed theater owners and film buyers each year since 1932. It is the first time that Oscar-winner Washington has topped the poll.

In the aftermath of director Tony Scott 's death, much has been made of the machines he filmed — the planes, trains and automobiles so sleek in his lens they became sex symbols or exploded magnificently before our eyes. What I remember are the men. Even when I didn't love his movies, I loved his men. Scott made them matter. The filmmaker had an uncanny ability to capture the machismo without the misogyny, and that was no small feat. Scott's movies were populated by strong male figures searching for a way to survive — and even evolve a little, rather than merely ride out — the feminist wave.

Tony Scott was the sort of director often viewed as a creature of Hollywood, in all the good and other ways that phrase implies. But while thriving in that hothouse environment can sometimes seem like simply a matter of listening to and playing well with others, it also requires a singularity of conviction and purpose. Just ask Fox and Denzel Washington . The studio and the star were both ambivalent about "Unstoppable," an action-thriller script set aboard a runaway train that Scott, who apparently committed suicide on Sunday, urgently wanted to direct a number of years ago. Though the movie would in fact turn out to be Scott's last directorial effort, it nearly didn't come into being.

Robert Zemeckis ' "Flight" will close the 50th edition of the New York Film Festival in a special gala screening that reps the world premiere of the Denzel Washington topliner. It'll be the first time for a Zemeckis film at the fest, which is known for its small, rigorously curated slate of about 25 films. Storyline of "Flight" centers on a pilot, played by Washington, whose heroic handling of a mid-air disaster is called into question when legal and ethical questions arise regarding the incident.

Norton Herrick has come onboard "2 Guns" as a producer along with his Herrick Entertainment banner. Currently filming in New Orleans, pic stars Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg and is based on the graphic novels by Steven Grant and published by Boom Studios. "Contraband" director Baltasar Kormakur is helming; Randall Emmett, George Furla, Jeffrey Stott, Ross Richie and Andrew Cosby produce. Bill Paxton , Edward James Olmos and James Marsden play supporting roles.

Fresh off the success of the History Channel mini-series "Hatfield & McCoys," Bill Paxton has found his next role as the actor is in negotiations to co-star in Universal's "2 Guns" starring Mark Wahlberg and Denzel Washington . Baltasar Kormakur will helm the pic from a script by Blake Masters. Pic follows a DEA agent and an undercover naval intelligence officer who unwittingly investigate each other as each steals mob money. Paxton will play a high ranking CIA operative.

Here's a man who seems to be getting everything he wants these days.It has been reported that Denzel Washington - so hot with Philadelphia and The Pelican Brief in release - has been pushing to star in the big-screen adaptation of the Walter Mosley mystery novel Devil in a Blue Dress next. Well, now it's official.He has signed for the drama that will be executive-produced by his Philadelphia director Jonathan Demme and Ed Saxon. Saxon says shooting will start in March with Carl Franklin directing.

Paramount is bolstering its 2012 year-end holiday schedule by moving Seth Rogen - Barbra Streisand road-trip comedy "The Guilt Trip" to Christmas Day and putting Robert Zemeckis drama "Flight," starring Denzel Washington , in its previous Nov. 2 slot. "Flight" has been on the fast-track at Par ever since the studio came onboard last fall. Pic, about an airline pilot (Washington) who must deal with an investigation after saving a plane from crashing, marks Zemeckis' first foray into live action since 2000's "Cast Away.